The expectations heaped upon Couric as the first solo female anchor of a U.S. broadcast network newscast were exceeded only by the hype. Both were amplified and undone by the Hollywood superstar-size paycheck CBS had given her, and almost none of it seemed rooted in reality.

Looking back, the only thing "The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" truly reinvented was the launch playbook going forward: Never again will the debut of any newscast or newscaster be promoted like the latest cinematic gem from Jennifer Aniston, a PR campaign that can fuel a strong opening but almost ensures a fast fade.

March 29, 2011

Rosie O'Donnell, a multiple Emmy winner for “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” and former co-host of “The View,” is going to help fill the void at Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Studios when Winfrey retires her nationally syndicated TV program after 25 seasons in May.

Chicago Harpo employees were told Monday that O’Donnell’s new one-hour daytime talk show, set to launch this fall on cable's OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, will tape on Winfrey's soon-to-be-vacated stage in the studio space at West Washington Boulevard and North Carpenter Street.

A child could be heard in the background and O'Donnell paused to say, “Quiet, Mommy's working.” Then she continued: “It's a huge thrill for me, and I'm beyond the beyond. And thank you, Oprah. And thank all you people there, some of you who are going to be sticking around and helping us make a kick-ass show for the Oprah Winfrey Network. And that's it: Thrilled, thanks, and I hope I didn't blow the surprise. Figure you already knew. Right?”

March 16, 2011

Do your friends tell you that you say, "45 minutes from the junction to O'Hare" like a pro?

Does "there's a jack-knifed semi on the southbound Dan Ryan at 95th you'll want to avoid" roll off your tongue?

Can you tell people that "because of the rain, you might want to get an early start on your commute" without sounding like you're scolding them for not getting up earlier?

Good news for you.

WBBM-Ch. 2 isn't bothering with standard methods to find a new traffic-jam and car-crash correspondent for its 4:30-to-7 weekday morning newscasts. It is staging a contest, open to any legal resident of Channel 2's viewing area age 21 or older.

At stake is an honest-to-goodness on-air union position for at least three months and $25,000 alongside anchors Steve Bartelstein and Susan Carlson and weathercaster Megan Glaros, a station spokeswoman said.

The station will have options for three three-month extensions, which would bring the annual amount to $100,000.

Would-be applicants can find rules and details available at TrafficTryouts.com. Contestants have between now and March 31 to submit a 30-second video explaining why they should be the next WBBM-Ch. 2 traffic reporter

Better hurry, too, as station management says it only will review the first 3,000 entries it gets for credibility, communication skills and likability.

The field will be narrowed to 75 people who will tape an actual traffic report on camera and take a written test about Chicago commuter routes in mid-April.

There will be 10 finalists, with the winner announced on May 18 and beginning in the job on May 23, two days before the end of the May ratings period.

You know, the people that give station salespeople something to sell, the consumers advertisers pay to reach, the group that will have a say in determining whether the newly expanded company actually prospers.

Pending regulatory approval, the combined entity will have 572 radio stations across the United States, including outlets in eight of the nation's top 10 markets. That's second in number of stations only to Clear Channel. But if listeners are put off by what they hear from a Cumulus-Citadel combo, a broader, deeper footprint is just a barren dent in the ground.

March 10, 2011

Everyone, it seems, has a price and Cumulus Media finally found Citadel Broadcasting's.

Cumulus said Thursday it has agreed to acquire Citadel, parent of Chicago's WLS-AM and FM, in a cash-and-stock transaction that values Citadel at between $2.4 billion and $2.5 billion.

Pending approval of government regulators, the deal would give Cumuluis 572 stations in around 120 markets, including eight of the top 10, as well as the syndication business Citadel acquired a few years back in its acquisition of ABC Radio properties from Walt Disney Co.

Cumulus' $37-per-share price (or 8.525 Cumulus Class A shares) is a 7.7 percent improvement on Citadel's closing price on Wednesday, and more than 19 percent better than an offer Citadel spurned in December.

Eddie and Jobo are back with CBS Radio in Chicago, and Jack's been jilted. If it's not quite like old times at WJMK-FM 104.3, it will be closer than it has been.

Beginning at 1:04 p.m. Monday, the one-time oldies station will switch from the Jack FM variety format it's embraced for almost six years to a mix of hits from the 1960s, '70s and '80s. Gone will be the disembodied recorded voice of Jack (Howard Cogan), replaced by actual live and local on-air personalities.

Effective March 21, Weigel, 41, will become the new weekend sportscaster and weekday sports reporter at Channel 7, where Tim spent 17 years of a three-decade Chicago media career. He replaces Ryan Chiaverini,who won a co-hosting job on "Windy City Live," set to be the station's 9 a.m. weekday program after the final original episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" airs in late May.

Unlike many "family business" situations common in Chicago media and politics, Rafer said this is something his father never encouraged. The son would work his way up in sports journalism's ranks, but only after the man who made it seem like the greatest job in the world was no longer around to question it.

"It's what I always wanted to do, but it wasn't something I thought was an option while he was alive," Rafer said. "(Tim) would always say, 'I want you to be more successful than me.' And I thought: 'Great, Dad. Thanks. No pressure.' So for us in that household, growing up, fame equaled success. And I wasn't a good athlete like he was. I wasn't a good student like he was. The one thing I could do that he couldn't do was act, and that was the one thing that I did that he respected."

March 03, 2011

Rafer Weigel is poised to follow in the footsteps of his father, the late Tim Weigel, by joining Chicago's WLS-Ch. 7 as a sportscaster.

The TV industry subscribtion news site NewsBlues.com on Thursday reported Weigel has left HLN's popular "Morning Express with Robin Meade," where he has handled sports for the last three years. "Tipsters claim he walked out on his contract and has been hired as the weekend sports anchor/reporter at ABC-owned WLS," the site said.

HLN sources say Weigel's exit but not his destination was announced to "Morning Express" staff. WLS had no comment. Weigel could not be reached for comment.

"He's on the air quite a bit these days," CBS Corp. President and Chief Executive Leslie Moonves, one of the people with whom Sheen is publicly at odds, said Tuesday at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in San Francisco. "I wish he would have worked this hard to promote himself for an Emmy."

WBBM had hired Foot from Disney/ABC-owned WLS in 2002 as executive producer of programming and promoted him four years later. Foot spent 13 years at Channel 7, where he helped develop the lifestyle and entertainment program "190 North," which launched in 1998 and continues today.

Before that, he was a coordinating producer helped create and develop 190 North and coordinating producer for "AM Philadelphia" at ABC-owned WPVI-TV.

About this blog

This is an expansion of the Chicago Tribune column I have written since April 2005, and the columns I wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times and Los Angeles’ Daily News for two decades before that. It’s TV, radio, newspapers and whatever, both locally and nationally. Beyond sharing what crosses my desk—and my mind—this will be a venue for you to share your takes with me as well as with each other. About Phil Rosenthal